Hi ho, it's off I go!

Super quick one - I'm off to Melbourne tonight! I've arranged leave from my family & will squish the trip around work to visit Melbourne's State of design festival. Can't wait! Loads of markets and catching up with a long lost friend for dinner.

Why the train? Everyone has been asking. Two words - carbon footprint. Flying is a lot of fun, but if you don't have wings, it's not overly planet friendly.

Back is packed, now it's off to work....

mmm, smells like honey....

How's this for a tidy bit of innovation. Straight from New Zealand to our studio desk is a big fat box of Honey Sticks. No, they're not colourful lollies, they're fantastic stumpy, chunky, colourful beeswax crayons for the arty underagers in the home. Pictured is my daughter's playtime with the newest product for our store. Built for small hands. Stumpy = harder to snap. Nice work. The wax is a by product of the new Zealand honey industry and draws beautifully. (I reckon there's the chance of drawing on fabric and then ironing it in to set - if you try this, make sure to put a piece of paper of the new artwork so you don't have a permanently coloured baseplate.)

Boxed set of 12 available shortly!

R&D

A great deal of what I do is research and developent. (An offical way of saying, finding stuff, using our family as test pilots to see how it performs, collating feedback and if the product ticks all the boxes, stock said product!)
As you're all aware, there are many companies out there with fantastic copywriters. Trying to make us think that we really, really need (at least) 1 of whatever they're selling. Great for them, but it has to work both ways.

I get really excited when I've found something I deem appropriate for Eco Depot. Take this flat pack bowl for example. Designed by a great guy. But it is still undergoing it's trial. Minimal waste, minimal packaging, but a tiny bit on the delicate side. There are no screws and no adhesives - that's part of its beauty. Also, the sculptural form is fantastic. My daughter loves turning it in and out of jigsaw mode. My husband thinks it's a little delicate (if you plop a piece of fruit etc. into the bowl, a ring bounces off it's shelf.) For my money, I love it on our dining table .

Any opinions?

Super Special time of the year!

Hello! It's come to that time of the year, time for the sun to stay up a little longer. Yippee! We celebrated Winter Soltice around a fire drum near the beach on Sunday night - the days only get longer from here on in!

Being the end of the month, it's time for me to pack up the studio stock, tetris it into the car and head north for Sunday Coledale Markets. Lots of samples and end of line specials will be on sale this time. Goodies that we haven't got around to popping up on the site & goodies people haven't see before. Drop by and pick up a bargain!
(It's not too early to start on that box under the bed for Christmas)

Stay warm and savour a nice slow cooked soup. (If you add beetroot early on, it turns the soup an amazing shade of magenta and sweetens it a touch.)

Play with colour, giggle and enjoy.

pass it on.

I don't know about you guys, but after many days of rain, I end up a little flattened out. A little rumply and not quite so zingy. All I'd like to do is curl up somewhere warm and snuggly and READ. Here's my entire collection of Dumbo feather, pass it on, pretty much what I'd like to being doing now is perusing articles about guerilla gardening in Tokyo and field feasts prepared by people with a genuine respect for the produce.

After every single article over the last 5 years since it's inception I've

been INSPIRED. (It's nice too that the articles aren't rudely interupted with ads.) That whole deal about putting your head down and getting on with it. So many people have done/ created marvelous things, empowering and courageous things and genuinely followed their hearts. So refreshing to read uplifting and proactive stories.

Kate (the founder and editor) got the ball rolling when on a rainy afternoon she couldn't find anything in the local newsagency she'd like to read. So she started a magazine filled with inspiring interviews and beautiful art direction. As you do.

Do yourself a favour - buy, borrow or read over someone's shoulder - see what the fuss is about and why they have an international and very loyal extended family.

Let the sun shine in

I can't believe how cold this morning was! Layer upon layer was applied - and that's just to get around the house! Lucky the sun is out, giving the day divine clarity. The other nice thing about the sunshine is free energy to run our Wind Up Radio. Pumps out the tunes with good volume and clarity. Park it on the windowsill and you're laughing! (for the cloudy days and evenings entertainment, there's a crank on the back to human power your radio.) (The pumpkin in the back ground is for a slow cook soup to power the humans, to power the radio, to power up the creative soul)

Greenfest was awesome! Found loads of goodies (more of that soon.) 

i read in one of the local street press mags in Brisbane that the founder sold his car and used a massive chunk of his own money to get Greenfest happening. yay for positive and couragious humans!!!! 

Also, many thanks to mother Nature for the beautiful weather.

Heading for the Sunshine State

How lucky are we...thanks to a certain low cost carrier (with carbon offsets) and generous grandparents, it's possible for us to make it to this year's Greenfest in Brisbane. Yay!!! A weekend filled with film, food, fantastic people with fabulous inspiration, markets and more! i love exploring cities!

 To kick it off, we've been invited to the Bleeding Heart Cafe to join an awesome lunch. (Think organic foods, free trade tea & coffee, hanging out on the verandah with a lovely group of like minded souls....) What made me smile about the place before even leaving town, was seeing the Bleeding Heart Cafe's tag line - "using our powers for good not evil"

Now it's off to find maps, reservation numbers and pack my council clean up carry on only bag.